Huge salary dump, and now Miami is back to a small salary team, with a brand new stadium, compliments of the city.

**** you, Loria.

I am hoping Bud prevents this deal for the good of the game, but I doubt it.

While he's cleaning house, paint over the lime green walls in the new ballpark and ditch the techno color uniforms. I would love to see the Teal trim pinstripes come back. Just insert the Marlin over an "M" instead of the "F".

How can this guy ever expect to build a loyal fanbase?! It's like following a circus.

How good are the prospects the Marlins are getting? I know Loria really screwed the citizens of Miami, but with that attendance, they had to try to trade Buehrle and Reyes. Those contracts are pretty putrid.

That's a pretty deep, solid team. They could still trade Buck and Rasmus to get more help. But they are better than the Orioles on paper. Whether they can beat out the Rays and Yanks is another story. At the minimum, they'll challenge for the WC.

That's a pretty deep, solid team. They could still trade Buck and Rasmus to get more help. But they are better than the Orioles on paper. Whether they can beat out the Rays and Yanks is another story. At the minimum, they'll challenge for the WC.

ESPN's Buster Olney is predicting a 4th place finish. He actually might have a point because this team does look strong on paper but can these guys stay healthy.

While there is no denying the Marlins are a joke of a franchise, Ozzie Guillen may have completely ruined that team. They just never recovered from the Castro incident. He could not take the levels of talent they had and get them to function as a working unit.

That's a pretty deep, solid team. They could still trade Buck and Rasmus to get more help. But they are better than the Orioles on paper. Whether they can beat out the Rays and Yanks is another story. At the minimum, they'll challenge for the WC.

Not to mention they could platoon Bonafacio and Rajai Davis in LF left vs right and get great production. Or have both in the OF in some game...with Davis in the 9 hole, Reyes 1, Bonafacio 2 it will gives teams fits with Encarnation, Bautista and Lawrie in the middle. Not to mention they could trade one of their young catchers now for some bullpen depth or closer. Solid, solid team.

Asking is one thing , getting his wish is another. 48M over the next 3 years may be a tough contract to move.

While this is true, he has some options. The hints of an early retirement have always been there for him. He's also made over $89M on his career and playing 1 more season will put him over $100M at almost 35 years old.

I wouldn't be too shocked if he elected to do one of a few different things. It's certainly possible that he could use the 'retirement card' now or even play a season in Toronto to see how it goes followed by using the 'retirement card' post-2013. The problem is, he might be better off using it now, because if he were to have a poor 2013, he'd have almost no leverage in that discussion. "Trade me (while eating some of my deal)," offers very little leverage if he plays out a bad 2013 season and they could pay nothing for him were he to retire. His window of opportunity for this option could close as time/seasons go on.

I do hope it works out for him because he was/is - by far - my favorite player to wear a White Sox uniform during my fandom, but he also made this bed...